Detour put Bucks traffic light on the road

Two oversize stop signs are posted in each direction on two-way State Road… (DAN HARTZELL, THE MORNING…)

January 09, 2014|Dan Hartzell | The Road Warrior

Q: Last summer a stop light was erected at the intersection of State Road and Richlandtown Pike in Springfield Township, Bucks County. This has been a dangerous intersection for a number of years, the site of several accidents, including at least one fatality. With the installation of the traffic signal, hopefully drivers in all directions would be more cautious and accidents would diminish. However, I noticed about a month ago that the light has disappeared. The poles, the signals, everything gone! Why? I know it is not an inexpensive operation to install a traffic signal, and to have it just as quickly taken down makes no sense. Not to mention that now a dangerous intersection has returned. Why this waste of taxpayers' dollars and resumption of risk to human life?

— Joe Scull, Coopersburg

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A: That was a temporary traffic signal from the starting line, Joe.

PennDOT officials considered the signal installation necessary to handle additional traffic anticipated when Richlandtown Pike was part of the detour route for the replacement of the Hellertown Road (Route 412) Bridge over Cooks Creek in Springfield. The bridge site lies just south of Old Bethlehem Road, about three miles south of the Hellertown border.

The $816,461 replacement of the narrow, structurally deficient bridge resulted in a vast improvement, the new span boasting two 11-foot lanes with five-foot shoulders and a stabilized creek embankment, according to PennDOT. The old bridge, only 18 feet wide and opened in 1919, had been marked for single-lane traffic, though intrepid drivers could squeeze two passenger cars through. The bridge carried an average of 4,300 vehicles across the creek each day.

The good news for motorists inconvenienced by the six-mile detour (including Springfield resident John Waros, who emailed in September to inquire about its expected duration) is that Grace Industries Inc. of Bath, the general contractor, got the work done with astonishing speed, opening the new bridge on Nov. 13, only 90 days after getting the green flag. The original estimate for the opening was June 2014.

"We are extremely pleased to open the new … bridge well head of schedule for motorists and businesses in upper Bucks County," PennDOT District 6 Executive Lester Toaso said in a news release at the time.

One reason for that, said District 6 spokesman Charles Metzger, is that the project marked an early example of a new work-sharing procedure between districts that is intended to improve efficiency.

In this particular "Next Generation" project, officials realized that, though the bridge was in District 6 territory, Allentown-based District 5's office was nearer the work site than District 6 headquarters in King of Prussia. One facet of Next Generation is that in such cases, the adjacent, closer district should provide site supervision.

"We designed it," District 6's Metzger said, "but [District 5] construction guys oversaw it. They supplied the [site] engineering. It's 33 miles from our office to the project site, and only 10 miles for them." Though right-of-way, design and similar work previously had been shared between the two districts, "This is the first time we've been able to do it for construction," Metzger said.

In addition, PennDOT and Grace Industries officials worked out a way to utilize a standard-size pole for the temporary traffic signal, saving time by detouring a wait for a fabricated pole, according to District 5 engineer Darren LePage. That in turn avoided the winter work slowdown that was built into the original project schedule. "The planets aligned on this one" in a number of ways, LePage said.

Back to the traffic signals at State and Richlandtown, though the intersection is dangerous — motorists fly on the long, straight section of Richlandtown, and those on State Road need to creep close to the pike for a good view of cross-traffic — it does not meet the warrants for signals.

PennDOT checked out the traffic volumes and other factors during the detour "and determined that a traffic signal is not warranted," said Springfield Township Manager Dave Nyman. Springfield police thought the signals were useful, but because of the warrant problem, the township has not formally requested permanent signals, Nyman said.

On the other side of the road, Richland Township Manager Stephen Sechriest said he uses the intersection on occasion, and "my personal observation, not being a traffic engineer, is that [signals] probably are not needed. … It's a dangerous intersection," Sechriest allowed, "but when the signal was in, it seemed like it held up traffic" unnecessarily, with vehicles sometimes waiting at red lights in the absence of cross-street traffic.